Who’s Responsible For Crashergate? Leave Desiree Rogers Alone!

Finally, there was April Ryan‘s explosive exchange with Robert Gibbs. April’s questions were absolutely legitimate, but the subtext makes it obvious that one or more insiders have been bending Ryan’s ear and airing personal grievances against Desiree Rogers.

Q  Has there been any concerns about Desiree Rogers’ performance prior to this instance?

MR. GIBBS:  No.

Q    No one has questioned the President or told the President that she is a very last-minute person, poor planner?

MR. GIBBS:  No, I think you — you all have been to and seen, either whether you’re part of a pool, whether some of you have been to receptions, the remarkable work that they have done in pulling off a lot of events here.  The First Family is quite pleased with her performance, and I’ve heard nothing uttered of what you talk about.

Q    Well, what about the issues of her being in fashion spreads early on in the administration?  Did you put the brakes on that?  I mean, that is — it’s been raised, it’s now public, you saw it in the magazines, her pictorals.  You saw her on the cover —

MR. GIBBS:  I get Sports Illustrated at my house.  I don’t  — I don’t get —

Q    But could you talk — seriously, could you talk about that?  I mean, was there a concern in this White House that she came out being — some might have called here the belle of the ball, overshadowing the First Lady at the beginning —

Now, April obviously isn’t pulling these questions out of thin air. The bit about the drop-dead gorgeous Rogers overshadowing the First Lady is nothing new, but April’s first question makes it fairly obvious that someone close to Rogers is interested in Desiree’s low backline more for metaphoric knife-placement than anything else.

I don’t know Desiree Rogers at all, but I know that she bears zero responsibility for the security breach at the state dinner (if you believe the White House and Secret Service). Unless she had a hand in getting the Salahis past that first checkpoint (which the Secret Service denies), she has no business at that hearing. Whether a staffer at the checkpoint would have been helpful is completely beside the point, and can only serve to muddy the waters.

Sullivan’s contention that the breach did not pose a risk to the President, similarly, relies on an ignorance of the uniformed Secret Service’s function. As many have pointed out, a high school security guard can clear someone through a metal detector. Making sure visitors to the White House belong there is as important a component as there is to securing the White House and the President. Even if they had never met the President, unauthorized visitors to the White House grounds present other risks, risks Sullivan is well aware of.

On the other hand, from a PR standpoint, the Secret Service is invested in making sure the President isn’t seen as vulnerable. How the officers involved are dealt with, and how the Secret Service responds in the future, is the true place where the rubber will meet the road here.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.